The Religious Right's annual whine-fest about the "War on Christmas" is coming along right on schedule. James Dobson has issued his list of "naughty and nice" retailers, and Donald Wildmon is doing land-office business selling in-your-face buttons and stickers criticizing anyone who fails to say "Merry Christmas" (a nice move during the season of peace). Read more

The commonwealth of Kentucky has an unusual approach to homeland security: God will provide.

Under the terms of a 2006 law authorizing the Kentucky Office of Homeland Security, the state is required to stress "the dependence on Almighty God as being vital to the security of the Commonwealth." Read more

Note: This post is a re-publication of one that originally appeared on Thanksgiving Day 2007. Enjoy the holiday!

When you sit down to your Thanksgiving dinner today, do you plan to say grace?

If so, what religious tradition will the prayer come from? Will it be a blessing from the Jewish, Muslim or Hindu faiths? Will it be Catholic, Mormon or one of the infinite varieties of Protestant denominations?

Maybe you won't offer a prayer at all, instead simply thanking the cook for the bounteous meal set before you rather than a deity of any sort. Read more

The day after Thanksgiving is "Black Friday," the traditional start of the December holiday shopping season.

Nervous retailers are watching the bottom line, fretful that the economic downturn will reduce the throngs that usually swamp malls and big box stores on this day.

But Dr. James Dobson of Focus on the Family has a different worry: Dobson and his band of Religious Right "Christmas Police" are fretting that Americans might accidentally shop at a store that fails to use the proper religiously correct terminology. Thus, they've prepared a handy list for us to use. Read more

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, I thought it would be appropriate to highlight a story that reminds me why I am thankful to work for Americans United and the cause of church-state separation.

Last Sunday, Dr. Bruce Prescott of Mainstream Oklahoma Baptists interviewed Joann Bell on his radio show. Read more

It seems that Religious Right activists are up to their usual dubious tactics — this time recruiting Georgia churches to try to secure a victory for U.S. Senate Republican incumbent Saxby Chambliss in his Dec. 2 run-off. Read more

In recent weeks, Focus on the Family, the American Family Association and other Religious Right zealots have ginned up their annual assault on "Happy Holidays." In a shameless bid to raise money and add a dollop of bitterness to the Christmas season, these folks are DEMANDING that merchants use the term "Merry Christmas" in their advertisements and in-store greetings. Read more

Someone dressed as PBS's big purple pal was there in Austin with dozens of scientists, students, teachers, clergy and other citizens to give testimony in support of sound science standards for Texas public school children. Read more

Next week, Americans will kick off the holiday season, but sadly, several employees at James Dobson's Focus on the Family (FOF) probably have lost that festive spirit.

On Dobson's radio broadcast yesterday, he shared that Colorado-based FOF is "experiencing the same financial shortfall and some of the pressures that have resulted from the economic downturn in this country." With that said, he announced that 149 filled staff positions and 53 open staff positions are to be cut, 20 percent of the total staff. Read more